


Rita's Birthday

by AussieBookworm



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alessandra knows Juno way too well, Birthday Party, Flashbacks, Frannie uses ASL, I don't mind. You just need to talk to someone other than Rita!, Juno and Rita are BFFs, Juno probably has PTSD but is he gonna see a therapist about it? No, Last minute presents, M/M, Or a dog!, Seriously Juno. Get a therapist, mainly fluff, scrapbooking, somewhat moving on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 08:04:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9810599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AussieBookworm/pseuds/AussieBookworm
Summary: A year ago, Juno was trapped below mars in a martian tomb. Today is Rita’s birthday, and she doesn’t want her family to miss out





	

Warm hands. The occasional murmur into someone’s chest. Fingers lazily tracing circles on scarred skin. Most people would think this would be a nice Sunday morning. No work to go to. To pressure to leave bed early. Just you, your partner, and the smallest bit of sun peeking through the curtains. Reality isn’t usually that pretty. Instead, Juno Steel was in an ancient martian tomb, sitting in silence with his… associate, Peter Nureyev. As much as Juno wished it was one of those Sunday mornings he's never had, it still didn’t change the grim outlook they were facing. A crazed martian anthropologist. A bomb that could supposedly wipe out an entire planet. A martian pill lodged in Juno’s brain giving him the ability to read minds. So, in the meantime, the two just cuddled close to each other. Pretended like the world wasn’t ending. Pretending that they were in a spa on Saturn. Pretending they were waking up in Juno’s bedroom. Pretending they were anywhere but underground.

 

“Mista Steel!” Rita cried, jolting Juno out of his stupor.  
He’s been having those flashbacks for a year now. It was one year since the incident happened. Maybe his brain was going over the ways he could change the end result. Maybe it was post traumatic stress disorder. Maybe it was the one eye. Juno had no way of telling.  
“Sorry Rita. You were saying?” He asked.  
Rita sighed.  
“Are you alight Mista Steel? You keep zoning out when someone’s talking to you.”  
“I’m fine. What were you saying Rita?”  
“Well tomorrow’s my birthday and-“  
“Wait, your birthday is tomorrow?!” Juno asked.  
“Yes, of course. I’ve been reminding you all week!”  
“But thats not… What’s the date today?”  
“The 16th.”  
“I… thought it was the 9th. I’m sorry Rita.”  
Rita sighed and smiled at Juno.  
“You don’t have to get me anything.”  
“But I have to! I’ve spent too many birthdays without any gifts! I’m not going to let that happen to anyone else!”  
“Juno, it’s fine.” Rita said in the softest voice she had, using his actual name.  
“Rita, I’m getting you a gift. And that’s that.”  
“Fine. What I was saying is that I invited Frannie to come over to my house tomorrow and you can come along if you want. We were thinking of watching some dramas together. Like the one where those astronauts from the 2000s are stuck orbiting this red dwarf star and they get contacted by aliens! And one of the crew is actually infected with this virus the science of the crew infected him with! And, you’re going to love his, Mista Steel, it turns out it wasn’t the first mission on that space ship! And-“  
“Yep. I know that one. That’s one of my favourites. What else are there?”  
“Um… The one about the artist whose hands won’t stop shaking. And the one was the western drama, about teacher falling in love with a bandit who runs an orphanage. Oh! Oh! What about those two brothers trying to become knights?! Or the one about the brother and sister whose house comes alive and-“  
“Sounds great, Rita. Tomorrow?”  
“At 12 o’clock. I wanted it earlier but Frannie has a yoga class then.”  
“Sounds good. See you tomorrow Rita.”  
“Will do! And don’t forget!” Rita called, going out the door.  
“I won’t!” Juno called back.

 

Juno waited until he heard the sound of the second door closing.  
“Shit.” He mumbled. “Shit, shit, shit. Shitting shit shit.”  
Juno groaned into his desk before standing up just to sit back down again and start up his computer.  
“I could pull in a favour with the Kanagawas… but the entire Grimm’s Mask thing still happened. Okay, plan B.” Juno mumbled.  
A quick internet search brought Juno nothing.  
“No, that’s not going to work. Ah, ah, ah. Okay. Okay. Uh… plan C.”  
Juno brought out his comms to call Alessandra.  
“Strong detective agency. Alessandra speaking.”  
“Strong, it’s Juno.”  
“Steel? What can I do for you this fine evening? Need help for a case? Because I’ll have you know… my rates are much more expensive than yours.”  
“Maybe why most people go to my agency instead of yours.”  
“Hey! At least I get more customers because I’m nicer to them!”  
“What does… never mind. I need to ask you a question.”  
“Shoot.”  
“It’s Rita birthday tomorrow and…”  
“You forgot to give her a gift, didn't you?”  
“Maaybe… In my defence, I thought it was next week.”  
“Why are you calling me then?”  
“Do you… know anything I could quickly get Rita?”  
“What’s the time?”  
“Uh… 9 o’clock.”  
“Most of the stores would be closed by now. You really chose a great time, didn't you?”  
“Come on. Help a lady out. Is there anything I can quickly make for her that won’t look like I am a terrible friend?”  
“Hm… the Wal-Mart would still be open… why don’t you print some pictures off your comms of you and Rita and put them into a scrapbook?”  
“That… actually might work. Thanks Strong. I owe you.”  
“I’ll keep that in mind when I need some help. See ya, Steel.”

 

Juno closed the door to his apartment and put the bags down. Rita had left her personal phone on her desk, so Juno ‘borrowed’ it for some extra pictures. Juno quickly heated up some leftovers and got the photos out. At Juno’s request, Frannie also sent some photos to him. In front of him were three piles of photos. In the bag was a dotted scrapbook of Rita’s favourite colours, as well as some glue, a pair of scissors, and some glitter gel pens. The notes Juno took on cases were messy, due to the pressure and all that. But when he wasn’t about to be killed, Juno’s handwriting was very neat. The microwave beeped, signifying that his food was done. Juno set an alarm on his comms, got the food out, and got ready to scrapbook.

 

“You’ve really got to be more careful, Juno.” Peter murmured, bandaging Juno’s arm up.  
“I didn't know they had weapons on them!” Juno protested.  
“They’re our guards. Of course they'd have weapons on them. Plus, they did hold a gun up to my head when we first got captured.”  
“That was… what? A day ago? Two days ago?”  
“Time is tricky to determine without the sun.” Peter noted, pulling hard on the bandages, getting a small yelp from Juno.  
“What was that for?!” Juno asked.  
“Well, do you, or do you not want the blood to stop leaving your body? Because if you don’t, I will be happy to let you bleed out on the floor in front of me. I only request that you do that silently.”  
“Sorry…”  
“Don’t worry about it. I think we’re both tired and want some fresh air.”  
“No kidding. I’d kill for a boring case.”  
“Well you just got an exciting one. And I’m thanking all my lucky stars I got to see you again.”  
Juno said nothing, staring at the wall.  
“I’m going to try to catch some sleep before the next experiment.”  
“Yes, that would be wise. You can’t be tortured by a crazed professor of anthropology whilst tired. Goodnight Juno.”  
“Night Nureyev.”

 

Juno jolted awake at the some of a comms going off. He grabbed the ringing device and answered it.  
“Hello?”  
“Mista Steel? What are you doing answering my phone?” Rita asked.  
“Oh, um… you left it on your desk yesterday and I noticed it before I left. I picked up and brought it home with me. I was going to give it back to you today.”  
“Phew! What a relief. I thought I lost that one for good!”  
“Don’t worry, Rita. It’s safe and sound. How long until you want us at your house?”  
“Oh! Um… about an hour.”  
“Excellent. See you then.” Juno hung up.  
Juno wiped the sleep from his eyes and looked at the mess around him. The pens were surrounding him at odd angles. The glue was to his left, on its side. There were a bunch of leftover bits of photos that Juno decided he didn’t need to add. Juno stood and cracked his back. He dropped down to pick up the scrapbook. With a quick flick through the pages, he deemed the book finished. All that was left was to… Juno groaned, realising he didn't have any wrapping paper.  
“Oh, come on!” He yelled at his wall.  
The wall did nothing. Juno tried recalling if he had any leftover wrapping paper or at the very least a ribbon. A quick search of his apartment said otherwise.  
“Fine, I’ll just go without any wrapping paper!” He yelled at the wall.  
Juno quickly composed himself, and went to get changed.

 

As Rita opened the door, she launched herself at Juno.  
“I’m so glad you came!” She cried.  
“Rita, why would I miss your birthday?”  
“What about last year?”  
“We don’t talk about last year.”  
Rita giggled.  
“Come on in.” She said, leading Juno inside.  
Frannie was already there. She waved at Juno.  
“Hi Frannie. How are you?” Juno, asked, slower than normal.  
Frannie put her right hand up to her chin and put it back down. She put both hands into fists, brushed the right down the left before pointing at Juno. Juno put his thumb of his right hand on his chest.  
“Fine.” He added.  
Frannie grinned. She did a complex set of gestures. Juno turned to Rita to translate.  
“She asked if you used the pictures she gave you. What pictures?”  
“Can’t keep it a surprise for long. Happy birthday Rita.” Juno said, giving Rita the book and her comms.  
Rita’s face lit up.  
“Did you make this Mista Steel?!” She shrieked.  
“Yep. Happy birthday.”  
Rita showed the book to Frannie who stood up to have a better look at it.  
“Do you want to go through it together?” Rita asked.  
Frannie nodded. Juno shrugged and grinned.

 

The three sat down and Rita opened the book. The first picture was a picture of the three hanging out.  
“The sleepover!” Rita cried, adding the sign language seconds later.  
Juno laughed.  
“More like I needed a place to crash and you two were hanging out.”  
“To-may-to, to-ma-to.” Rita said, flicking to the next page.  
There were some strips from a photo booth Rita found one day when the three went shopping. The first picture of the first strip was a normal picture. The second had Rita putting bunny ears behind Juno. The third was Juno turning to Rita and asking what she was doing while Frannie both gave them bunny ears. The fourth was the three pulling the ugliest face they could pull. The second strip was from a different photo booth. It was one that you could edit and choose the backgrounds. Juno and Rita had gone crazy writing all over the pictures. The third strip was of Rita and Frannie wearing some silly hats and glasses. In one, they managed to get fake moustaches. The next page had pictures of the three at a pet shop. From Rita’s comms, Rita managed to get a picture of Juno sitting in the bunny pen smiling. Juno meanwhile managed to get a picture of Rita sitting across from a blue tongue lizard, poking her tongue out at it. Rita also had a picture of Frannie grinning next to a white cat with a sign in the background saying “Careful! I can’t hear as well as you do! I will still love you!” Frannie gasped, signing some letters.  
“Shizuka!” Rita translated.  
The next set of photos were of Juno and Rita at Frannie’s house, helping to settle in Shizuka. There were pictures of Rita cuddling Shizuka, Juno and Shizuka playing with a cat toy, and of Frannie patting Shizuka. 

 

The next page was when Juno and Rita took one of their stay-cations. They usually took a couple days off, had a makeover, and pretended to be a tourist while going to all the biggest tourist destinations. Juno was wearing a colourful dress and blue wig. Rita wore a dark purple suit and wore a bright red wig. In a couple photos, they were posing outside Kanagawa manor, the studio of that one famous fashion designer and on a ferris wheel. On the next page Frannie and Rita were carving pumpkins together for halloween. The pumpkins were expensive, but they were fun to carve, Rita told Juno multiple times. The next page were of Rita and Juno having an impromptu photoshoot after having to get dressed up for a meeting with a client. Rita played the calm and somewhat sexy receptionist while Juno played the even more sexier assistant who could kick your ass. Frannie laughed at the photos. Juno and Rita chuckled along. 

 

Next was some pictures from when Rita and Frannie did an old internet challenge. The challenge was to do the other person’s makeup while blindfolded. There were multiple pictures of Frannie looking exasperated whilst Rita put makeup on her cheek and Rita cry-laughing as Frannie put the eye liner on Rita’s nose. The end result was… interesting to say the least. Turning the page showed some pictures of Rita after she drew on Juno’s face while asleep. The three lost it, looking at the very bad picture of a rabbit on Juno’s cheek. Juno looked at the two girls laughing at the pictures in the scrapbook he created. Things might have changed since last year, but they were still his friends. Rita turned the page to show a picture of Frannie and Rita dressed up for a 1980’s party and laughed. Juno smiled. There was no where else he would rather be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the ever so lovely Moonlit Musings, or Briwhosaysni on Tumblr for helping me beta this!
> 
> Come say hi to me on Tumblr at Aussie-Bookworm!


End file.
